South/Aldercroft side - 1/18/2020
10:33am - 12:22pm
Coverage: Aldercroft Heights Road intersection to stop sign.
Weather: Chilly, partly cloudy, had rained significantly (1.35") 2 days before.
Rainfall: MTD 1.72in, YTD 14.071in (per http://www.weathercat.net/wxraindetail.php)
Vehicles: 19
Bikes: 13 - One said "save the newts!" as they went by, so the bikers are getting to know us.
Pedestrians: 1
65 dead newts, several fresh
1 live newt, moving in the direction of the reservoir
No other dead critters
15 turkeys
A cluster of lovely, pale purple mushrooms
I was on the south side, but saw/heard the rowing club/class/whatever go by in the reservoir.
Comentarios
Stacie (@newtpatrol), did you get a photo of the live newt?
OK, so the rowing lessons have started. I expect the number of dead newts to significantly increase due to the increased traffic, especially in the northern section of the survey. Please be careful out there on the road everyone (@merav, @sea-kangaroo, @joescience1, @anudibranchmom). Some of those folks are wild drivers.
i did the north end this AM. Traffic way up, both cars, bikes and joggers, but newt body count way down, and very few fresh ones. i will get them posted today.
Hi @joescience1 - that's interesting that the newt count is way down. I'm wondering if it has to do with the low overnight temps. Last year I found that overnight temp had more to do with how many bodies were on the road than amount of rainfall. I noticed snow on the mountains when roadkill count was down for no other obvious reason. Just a thought.
No, sorry, @truthseqr! I was so excited to move the live newt across the road that I completely forgot to take a photo, was a lovely large one too.
That's funny, @newtpatrol! I'd suggest uploading an observation anyway, without a photo, with the approximate location. It's important for our database.
@newtpatrol, I'm so happy that you saved the live newt by helping it across the road - one bright ray of sunshine in an otherwise dismal situation.
i'm posting my observations now... one thought i had: will we see an upswing again when they start migrating back up hill?
@joescience1, it's my understanding that the migration to the water is en masse, while the migration back to the highlands is more dispersed. I've read that the males migrate to the water first, followed by the females some time later. I forget the sequence for the return trip. I'll look it up and get back to you.
Last year, January and March had the most roadkill numbers. On a few days I saw as many as 400 on one day. The slaughter continues into mid-April.
ugh.
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